EcoBoost Police vehicles update
As some of you may recall, I posted a thread back in 2012 when we got our first batch of EcoBoost's. Link Time for an update. I talked to the fleet manager yesterday. He said he doesn't like...
Forum Discussion
This actually developed into an interesting thread from a rough start!
Just some random thoughts to throw out here:
The Caprice that came out in the '90s was pretty much a disaster in Connecticut. I don't know about other places, but here they wore out tires in under 10,000 miles, front ends had to be re-aligned constantly, and they just had problems. A few departments just parked brand new Caprices and kept driving their old Crown Vics until they could get new Vics. That is just what I saw around here.
Crown Vics DID have problems with excessive idling - just like any car can. In talking to mechanics, 2 basic things would happen: 1 - after idling for possibly hours, the officer would get a call, jump in, and roar off -- the engine going from idle to redline rpms instantly. That is tough on any engine. 2 - biggest reason for problems according to mechanics I talked with, was the departments trying to "save" money by not using the proper oil which I believe was supposed to be synthetic. Departments realized cheap oil would save a decent amount of money at budget time, so they went with that. The synthetic could handle the crazy idle-to-full-acceleration much better than dino oil.
In talking with local LEOs, they like the SUV vehicles especially for storage space, except they aren't quite as nimble. The Chargers I've heard have an issue with visibility - the officer sits low in them, and does not have great 360 view. The Taurus issue is with space, as someone else posted - they basically are 1 person cars due to electronics taking up front passenger seat.
Idling of vehicles... I'm with the local Vol Fire dept, and we can't leave our engines shut off for long if they aren't plugged in. All the electronics will drain the batteries (anywhere from 2 to 6 batteries depending on the engine) very quickly. Yes, the engines have "master" switches to shut down most everything, but there is just so much electronics these days something will still be "on". Our "rule of thumb" is to not leave an engine shutoff for more than 1 hour unless plugged in (when they are parked inside the firehouse they are plugged into shore power 24/7).
A couple Halloweens ago we had a "trunk or treat" at our town green. Ambulance crew showed up with a well decorated ambulance as a "hearse" type thing with a skeleton, etc. They shut down the rig while at the event. When time to pack up, engine won't start. No problem, it was expected - all EMS vehicles in my town have jumper plugs sticking out of their grills! A paramedic SUV pulled up, plugged into the ambulance, and it started. Turns out that the ambulance dept had so many complaints over the years by townspeople about the idling of their vehicles, they started shutting down vehicles when stopped and they would routinely need to be jumped. So now they specify the jumper plugs on all new vehicles. And they also go through batteries quickly... but all in the name of not "bothering" people.
Same event - local police officer went to start his car (I think it was an older Crown Vic) that he had shutdown for the event. Yep, it wouldn't start. Again, no problem - turns out all our police cars carry standard jumper cables in the trunk - NOT to help people, but to jump start each others police cars if needed!
The new LED light bars draw very little power compared to old strobes, but it is still a drain over time.
Another forum I go to where there are a lot of police officers posting - they use the term "LEO" all the time. I have basically never heard the term "copper", from police or anyone else, except in old movies. I think the local police would just laugh if someone tried to use that term in a disparaging way towards them...
Someone mentioned idling diesel engines - my 2000 F250 7.3 had an automatic idle boost the would raise the rpms a little during extending idling. Our fire engines have either a manual over ride throttle or newer auto throttles that boost the idle rpms for extending idling. I've been told various reasons for this, but I was told not to let the diesel engines sit at low idle for too long.
Wow, sorry about the book I just wrote! I should probably get to work now that I've solved all the problems here...
Just some random thoughts to throw out here:
The Caprice that came out in the '90s was pretty much a disaster in Connecticut. I don't know about other places, but here they wore out tires in under 10,000 miles, front ends had to be re-aligned constantly, and they just had problems. A few departments just parked brand new Caprices and kept driving their old Crown Vics until they could get new Vics. That is just what I saw around here.
Crown Vics DID have problems with excessive idling - just like any car can. In talking to mechanics, 2 basic things would happen: 1 - after idling for possibly hours, the officer would get a call, jump in, and roar off -- the engine going from idle to redline rpms instantly. That is tough on any engine. 2 - biggest reason for problems according to mechanics I talked with, was the departments trying to "save" money by not using the proper oil which I believe was supposed to be synthetic. Departments realized cheap oil would save a decent amount of money at budget time, so they went with that. The synthetic could handle the crazy idle-to-full-acceleration much better than dino oil.
In talking with local LEOs, they like the SUV vehicles especially for storage space, except they aren't quite as nimble. The Chargers I've heard have an issue with visibility - the officer sits low in them, and does not have great 360 view. The Taurus issue is with space, as someone else posted - they basically are 1 person cars due to electronics taking up front passenger seat.
Idling of vehicles... I'm with the local Vol Fire dept, and we can't leave our engines shut off for long if they aren't plugged in. All the electronics will drain the batteries (anywhere from 2 to 6 batteries depending on the engine) very quickly. Yes, the engines have "master" switches to shut down most everything, but there is just so much electronics these days something will still be "on". Our "rule of thumb" is to not leave an engine shutoff for more than 1 hour unless plugged in (when they are parked inside the firehouse they are plugged into shore power 24/7).
A couple Halloweens ago we had a "trunk or treat" at our town green. Ambulance crew showed up with a well decorated ambulance as a "hearse" type thing with a skeleton, etc. They shut down the rig while at the event. When time to pack up, engine won't start. No problem, it was expected - all EMS vehicles in my town have jumper plugs sticking out of their grills! A paramedic SUV pulled up, plugged into the ambulance, and it started. Turns out that the ambulance dept had so many complaints over the years by townspeople about the idling of their vehicles, they started shutting down vehicles when stopped and they would routinely need to be jumped. So now they specify the jumper plugs on all new vehicles. And they also go through batteries quickly... but all in the name of not "bothering" people.
Same event - local police officer went to start his car (I think it was an older Crown Vic) that he had shutdown for the event. Yep, it wouldn't start. Again, no problem - turns out all our police cars carry standard jumper cables in the trunk - NOT to help people, but to jump start each others police cars if needed!
The new LED light bars draw very little power compared to old strobes, but it is still a drain over time.
Another forum I go to where there are a lot of police officers posting - they use the term "LEO" all the time. I have basically never heard the term "copper", from police or anyone else, except in old movies. I think the local police would just laugh if someone tried to use that term in a disparaging way towards them...
Someone mentioned idling diesel engines - my 2000 F250 7.3 had an automatic idle boost the would raise the rpms a little during extending idling. Our fire engines have either a manual over ride throttle or newer auto throttles that boost the idle rpms for extending idling. I've been told various reasons for this, but I was told not to let the diesel engines sit at low idle for too long.
Wow, sorry about the book I just wrote! I should probably get to work now that I've solved all the problems here...
